Gypsies, Jews and Palestinians – A Vegan Perspective

*I have used the word Gypsies in the headline, as that is the commonly known term in English, however, for the rest of my post, I will use the word ROMA

@BrokePimpStyles (♛Madame Of Content♛)… 5/09/2011
“It is a rare and revolutionary individual indeed that doesn’t use their own oppression as an excuse to oppress others.”

As a vegan, I am occasionally told by critics, “why don’t you care about people – the hungry, the homeless, refugees, war, famine? the environment?”.

I tell them, as a vegan, I care about all of those things, and being vegan is one way to do something about all the issues.

Being vegan expands my circle of compassion (Dr. Albert Einstein) to include all living beings and the planet that supports life.

animal liberation
=
earth liberation
=
human liberation

Being vegan does not automatically give me a unique point of view on anything, except that I choose to speak out against oppression where I see it.

The causes of one oppression are the same as all oppression, it is the group that we choose to oppress which change.

“Instead of allowing only one type of equality,
place the blame on each other, yeah,
we should be expanding our scope
of understanding and hope
… we only want one thing, and that’s UNITY”Unity Of Oppression: Consolidated

The same reasoning people use to justify to themselves, sexism, agism, killing others in war, homophobia, classism, ableism, this all comes from the same place as SPECIEISM.

The ability of humans to categories those people / animals over there is our attempt to make Them less than Us, less equal to us, less worthy.

We take away the rights and lives of Others because they are not like Us. We don’t need to treat them with dignity and respect because in our eyes, they are not deserving.

And because they belong to a group that is Less than Us, they bring their Oppression on themselves, otherwise, they would be one of Us.

Don’t agree with that?

Hey, Gay-people – stop complaining about lack of Marriage Equality – if you want to get married, stop being gay and be straight!

See?

So What? What has this got to do with Roma?
In 1942, the German Justice Minister Thierack removed Roma from the jurisdiction of the German courts, and into the hands of Heinrich Himmler ‘I do this because I realize that the courts can only feebly contribute to the extermination of these people.’ *

Yeah, again… so what?

Jewish prisoners of war, those who were forced into slave labour, those who had their possessions and land stolen, those who were experimented on were entitled to compensation after the war. They had been targeted on the basis of their religion.

Roma people of Europe, were also rounded up as early as 1936, had sadistic medical experiments conducted on them, sent to work in slave labour factories, had their lands and possessions stolen, and when they had served their purpose, they were executed.

However the Roma were Not entitled to any compensation, because they were sent to the Concentration Camps for being criminals, not on the basis of their religion or race.

the Gypsy cannot, by reason of his inner and outer makeup (Konstruktion), be a useful member of the human community. – Raul Hilberg, 1941

Roma were exterminated for the CRIME of being Roma.

That’s sad and all, but this is 2011, what does this have to do with Palestine?

Almost 70 years later, and nothing has changed.

The people of Palestine are being targeted for extermination from a country that is determined to steal their land.

Gaza has been turned into an open-air prison (Gerry Adams), an entire people have been made prisoners.

Palestinians have been found guilty for the crime of being Palestinian, and execution soon follows.

Israel has decided to treat the people of Palestine the same way that the Roma were treated by the Nazi’s during World War Two.

NEVER FORGET- they said, about the millions upon millions of people who were slaughtered during World War Two.

But this was not supposed to be so that some could learn the lessons and use them against others, the way they had been used against Jews and Roma (and so many more).

What Israel does to Palestine, on that basis that all Palestinians are terrorists, would be unacceptable if any other country did it to Israel.

A child throws a few rocks at an Israeli tank, and Israel throws a few missiles at homes in Gaza, killing a few people – because they are harbouring terrorists.

Now is this a proportional response to a child throwing rocks at a tank?

And because Gaza is harbouring terrorists, all Gazans are responsible – men, women, old people, children, babies, even the unborn are guilty of habouring terrorists.

The result is Gaza has become the largest prison in the world. Israel gets to decide who goes in, who comes out, who owns what land, who buys what, who sells what, who gets access to medicine, schools, shops, family.

Even though, collective punishment is expressly forbidden by the United Nations

No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidations or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
–Article 33 of the 4th Geneva Convention.

However, while Palestine continues to have its quest for Statehood opposed, these are not considered war crimes. They are considered self-defense by the fourth largest military (Israel) in the world. And the people in the occupied territories of Gaza are considered to be part of Israel.

is this a joke? I’m trying to show that crimes against Roma, Jew, anyone on the basis of their race, is f’kd up… And you bring up stereotypes that went out the 1970? (they were out of date stereotypes in the 1790s!)

@redglitterx Are you saying the Roma are known to be honest hardworking folk? Really? Are you joking? Police in Australia have posted alert

To believe that it was justified to slaughter millions of Roma during the second world war because they are criminals, and deserve, even now, today…. How can anyone justify that belief.

It is not surprising that people in Palestine can be declared terrorists, or supporters of terrorists, and accused of harbouring terrorists, on the evidence of being Palestinian.

Some questions for you Mr MalleyScrub

If a Roma and a non-Roma have a child, is that child only half-criminal?

I mean, I think what I’m asking is – what percentage of non-Roma blood/ DNA is required before a child ceases to be a born criminal 50%? 25%? 12.5%?

Or, is there some other criteria, like skin colour and eye colour, or perhaps religion and nationality, which affects the criminality of the DNA?

Or, what if someone never commits a crime, we know that if they are Roma, they are still natural born thiefs, but does criminality pass onto their children anyway?

And, is it passed down on the mothers side, the fathers side, or both?

Does have a European relative boost the non-criminal DNA, more than say Asian (since Roma originated in India, not Egypt)?

How about, what happens if a Roma family adopt a non-Roma child, do they become tricky thieves by association or is it purely by blood?

Mr Malleyscrub, could you try replacing the word Roma in your tweet, with any other group – African-American, Asian, Aboriginal, Irish, Victorian, Catholic, Muslim, Atheist, Women… do we still believe this?

Oh, and Mr Malleyscrub, opposing racism and discrimination is not cute – it is the right thing to do – but from someone who apparently bases their belief system on the same system they use to breed race horse, I’m not really sure your opinion of me is valid.

Call the police – Is that your final solution on the matter, oops, I mean, final word?

Try this experiment:
When you hear someone make a comment about “all of THOSE PEOPLE do/act/believe/are……” (-those people– being which ever group you think you’re better than)
…. replace Those People with your own group

example:
All working class are lazyAll white people are lazy

All Muslims are terroristsAll white people are terrorists

All public school educated people are stupidAll white people are stupid

All women are gold diggersAll white people are gold diggers

All Roma are thievesAll white people are thieves

No, we don’t believe ALL, every single white person ever born has those characteristics, so why is it acceptable to characterise an entire race of Roma based on stupid stereotypes.

Try this one….
Palestinians don’t deserve to liveWhite people don’t deserve to live

Is it acceptable now?

Why don’t we care that Palestinians are being slaughtered?

Is it because deep down inside, we see them as being less than human, less worthy, less deserving of rights.

Do we think that perhaps they really are born-terrorists – if our thinking of Roma people has not yet evolved further than the Nazi’s of World War Two, why should we see Palestinians any differently.

Is there some part of us that thinks that Palestinians have brought this on themselves, and hope that when Israel kills them all that we can stop listening to their whining for their own land?

WHY are we silent?

Why is still acceptable to express blatantly, obvious racism against Roma?

Something we would not tolerate against any other group…. except Palestinians.

5 Comments to “Gypsies, Jews and Palestinians – A Vegan Perspective”

I lived in Israel and saw the wrongs in the Israeli view…How they had become what they hate…How proud Israel is to hate the Arabs…The Jews in Israel are taught to hate all Germans because of the holocaust…They hate Christians because Christianity is the religion popular in the Germany which gave so much grief…Now I am not implying that all Jews and Israelis are so dumb…But what I experienced working in Israel was just wrong. Jewish pride and superiority and revenge. They did not know I was Catholic and of German descent but I had an Arab name…that name alone got me in trouble at work…I had married an Arab…I was taunted because of that name. I hate to think what would have happened had they known my religion and country of origin.
I grew weary.
They thought they were so right.
But they were bully mean.
And that never ends.
Revenge never ends.

I am an Israeli Vegan. Please stop the bias propaganda… I and many Israelies strive for a peaceful existence for all beings… Both Palestinians AND Israelies are suffering… Can you have compassion for both sides… for all people..?